“Stalin is too rude and this defect… becomes intolerable in a Secretary-General. That is why I suggest the comrades think about a way of removing Stalin from that [Central Committee] post and appointing another man in his stead…”

These words were written in December 1922 by V.I. Lenin in what came to be known as the ailing Soviet leader’s Testament. For a third of a century Lenin’s rebuke was - along with much of the Russian Revolution’s radical legacy - suppressed as Joseph Stalin rose to absolute power in the USSR. Three years after “Uncle Joe’s” death, on February 14, 1956 at the 20th Communist Party Congress, the new Soviet Premier, Nikita Khrushchev, dared read Lenin’s Testament aloud as part of his “Secret Speech.” Later that year Lenin’s text was finally published and made public to a people who had been bamboozled, purged and disappeared for decades.

As the week’s news slaps against my consciousness like road slush, some fragments sting more than others. For instance:

“According to the DOJ’s court filing, parents who are not currently in the U.S. may not be eligible for reunification with their children.”

I can’t quite move on with my life after reading a sentence like this. A gouge of incredulity lingers. How is such a cruelly stupid rule possible? What kind of long-term ramification will it have on the entirety of the human race?

That’s as enthused as I can get. There must be a Republican in the White House. Is there? Oh yeah. Well, maybe that explains it. Or maybe the CPC is just sticking with last year’s budget despite this year’s additional insane increases in military spending and decreases most other places.

Given the overwhelming evidence that activist efforts are failing to halt the accelerating rush to extinction precipitated and maintained by dysfunctional human behavior, it is worth reflecting on why this is happening.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Several people died, hundreds were missing and
6,600 left homeless Tuesday (July 24) after a partially constructed
dam collapsed in southern Laos, dumping more than 1 billion gallons (5
billion liters) of churning water onto villages below, official
reports from the communist country said.

The collapse of the partially constructed hydroelectric dam on Monday
(July 23) night in Attapeu province was described as an accident
caused by heavy rain.

The 1 billion gallons (5 billion liters) of water which roared out
equals 2 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, according to one
report.

"The incident was caused by a continuous rainstorm which caused a high
volume of water to flow into the project's reservoir," the dam's
Thailand-based Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding reportedly
said in an English-language statement.

Rainwater "fractured" the "Saddle Dam D" and "leaked to the downstream
area," it said.

The dam's other investors include South Korea's Korea Western Power